Saturday, February 16, 2019

Alien beasts - Snippet from TRAPPED for #WeWriWa #SciFiRomance



Welcome to another Sunday with Weekend Writing Warriors. Meet writers in various genres and read 8-10 sentence snippets of their stories. Find a new author and sample their work. Enjoy!

I’m continuing my new story, Trapped on Vkani, book 3 in my series Atrapako on Eden. The settings are two remote planets: Eden, a terraformed planet with a colony of humans; and Vkani, an inhospitable planet with scaled human(oid) aliens. You can read about the planets and their inhabitants in my Blog Post HERE.

Maya and her team had planned to explore the ruins of an ancient civilization in the radioactive Deadlands. But before they landed, a sandstorm smashed into their shuttle. Now, they are trapped. The shuttle is buried under a thick layer of sand, they cannot communicate with the space station, and their supply of air is running out. 
This week, I’ll give you another snippet from Chapter 2 in Sa Vittaran’s pov.
Note 1: This alien society has color-coded castes. Blues are at the top and really stand out in the landscape of red rocks.
Note 2: His steed is an alien animal that runs on two hind legs. 

As the clouds of sand dissipated, he turned to look down at his crew and raised his hand. At his signal, the two Reds tightened the leading reins of the yushos and slapped the armored flanks of the large beasts. Each yusho carried a pair of empty panniers to hold his loot. The beasts swung their heavy heads, their side horns butting at their handlers. The old Green rose from his seat on a boulder and massaged his spine. He stretched his arms, pulled his hood over his gnarled head and slung the sack over his shoulders. Sa Sumakis was slowing with age; he might be incapable of making the trek to the Deadlands in the next season.
Giving a mental shrug, the Blue leaped down the steep slope to his pekron. The glossy black steed lifted its short forelimbs and snuffled, begging for a treat. The lively thoroughbred, prancing in its eagerness to move on, was his sole concession to luxury.

 Trapped

Marooned on a desolate planet, joining forces with the enemy is their only hope.
Maya Pandita spent years preparing for an expedition to the Deadlands. But her dreams of unearthing ancient artifacts are shattered when her shuttle is buried by a violent sandstorm, and her team is abducted by the scaled inhabitants of the planet. Maya and her companions must try to outwit their blue captor and call for help before they die in the toxic atmosphere.
Sa Vittaran has a problem in his claws. Along with treasures from the ruins, he has retrieved three smooth-skinned foreigners. They will die if he leaves them in the desert. Yet the puny creatures have little value as slaves, except perhaps for the impudent woman who claims to be their leader. He plans to keep her. Her knowledge of the ancient texts will be an asset if she can survive the long trek to his house. 
An attack by marauders forces Maya and the Blue leader into a wary alliance. They must work together to thwart the bandits and reunite their company. Can Maya convince Sa Vittaran to help her team? If she fails, they are doomed to a short unpleasant life on the desolate, war-torn planet.

Pre-order Trapped on Vkani at Amazon for release March 22nd
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B07NKTVHFJ

The first book in this series, The Lady is Blue, will be 99c for the rest of February at Amazon  iBooks  Kobo  B&N  GooglePlay 
 Lady




Dr. Lucy Stannis’ quiet life as the chief biologist in the small human colony on Eden is interrupted when an alien spaceship arrives. She is thrilled to meet the captain, the formidable Sa Kamizan. But, arrogant scaled Atrapako plan to subdue the puny humans, and conflict threatens the peaceful populace. Lucy must employ all her skills to discover the aliens’ secret and save the colony.






As always, I’ll be happy to reply to your comments.  
Please return to www.wewriwa.com to sample the works of the other writers.

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19 comments:

  1. I really enjoyed all the world building in this snippet!

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    1. Thank you. The beasts of burden and riding steed give the story a Western flavor.

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  2. I enjoyed all the alien livestock. The only thing missing was the inevitable smells of the stable!

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    1. That's true, although the winds might blow the scent away. Or else my "hero" is not bothered by the usual smell.
      My heroine won't be able to smell since she wears air filters in her nostrils.

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  3. I LOVE the world-building in this snippet, Aurora. The description of their steeds is outstanding. :-)

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    1. Thank you. It's fun to invent alien animals. The heroine will have a different perspective when she sees them.

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  4. What lush descriptions! Great reading, Aurora.

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  5. Loved the vivid and evocative descriptions in this passage!

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  6. Your worldbuilding details are always so thorough and well thought out. Very much enjoyed the excerpt!

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  7. Wonderful imagery! I felt like I was right there. Wonderful beasts!

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  8. I love stories with colour codes to them! :D

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  9. Great descriptions. Made me feel to be right there ...

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    1. Thank you. Although I don't think you would really want to be there.

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  10. Excellent world building details. I enjoyed the descriptions of the animals.

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    1. Thank you. In his pov, they are behaving normally.

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